A few years ago, I decided to do some deep, sustained research that looked at the question of how we involve people in the process of making change. This week my colleague Kurt Iveson and I submitted our first journal article about our findings. Knowing that many of you aren’t likely to get your hands on the somewhat aloof International Journal of Housing Policy I thought I might pass on what we found. The article is on urban social movements….
For the last 10 days in Portland Oregon, Federal law enforcement have been arresting protesters. After over 50 days of sustained #BlackLivesMatter protest, the Federal Attorney General called in law enforcements over the top of state authorities under the guise of protecting property and restoring order. Federal officials have used less-lethal munitions like tear gas and also conducted arrests, firstly at protest sites and more recently tracking down protesters at their homes and as they walked the streets. The move…
This week a second CoronaVirus lockdown began in Melbourne, Australia, joining many global cities still in lockdown. It sparked greater focus on the mental health crises that are rising alongside the disease. To date, the standard response to mental health crises is more doctors, more clinicians. That may be needed for helping people in acute need, but is it sufficient for creating healthier minds long term? The greatest tool for living well with a mental illness is insight. Being able…
Intense pressure can cause radical transformation, like how coal can turn into a diamond. But it can also cause things to crack and break. Welcome to technology in 2020. Last weekend in Tulsa, the twitterer in residence was hoist with his own petard. The campaign that claimed to rule social media found itself pranked by hundreds of thousands of young activists. K-pop fans combined with other Tiktoc users to stage a mass intervention into the ticket sales at the President’s…
ChangeMakers Podcast · #29 Bushfires Part 2 – Renegade Aid in Batemans Bay In all of Australia, Batemans Bay and the South Coast was one of the worst affected. With devastation everywhere, formal government services and charities weren’t able to cope. This is the story of the little known community initiative that saw the breach and stepped in to fill the gap. Listen by clicking play above, or listen via an app on Apple, PodcastOne, Spotify or Stitcher – or on most other podcast…
ChangeMakers Podcast · #28 Bushfires Part 1 – Black Ops Mosquitos In the summer of 2019, Australia had the worst bushfires on record. Everyone knows the story of the official fires services. This is the story of the not-so-official fire fighting squad. Listen by clicking play above, or listen via an app on Apple, PodcastOne, Spotify or Stitcher – or on most other podcast apps by searching “ChangeMakers.” Or use our RSS feed. Join our weekly email list to hear our latest musings, podcasts and training….
ChangeMakers Podcast · Organised Money – ChangeMakers Panel One of the hardest things to do when making change is raising money to support your work. Today we host a panel to discuss the art of organising money with Colleen Loper from Way to Win (US) and Stefan Baskerville from New Economics Foundation (UK). We discuss the different ways you can raise money and the pros and cons of these strategies. We explore why it is so hard to raise…
ChangeMakers Podcast · Richard Fuller – ChangeMaker Chat What happens to the communities that suffer from toxic pollution? Too often nothing. But not if they partner with Pure Earth, the world’s only global NGO working on toxics. Today we talk with it’s founder Richard Fuller – engineer turned toxics crusader who has helped lead an intervention that has cleaned up over 120 places. We find out how he got into it, and how Pure Earth works with communities to create…
Social service organisations like food banks, charities, and nonprofits are being squeezed at both ends by the pandemic – their resource base has collapsed while they now have much greater demand for their services. Joan Garry talks us through these challenges based on her decades of experience as an advocate, nonprofit CEO and mentor to thousands of nonprofit leaders across North America. For more of Joan – see her website – https://www.joangarry.com/ And – https://nonprofitleadershiplab.com/ Listen by clicking play…
What are the psychological features of the climate disaster? How does fear cause some people to step back, and others to step forward and make change. Margaret Klein Salamon is a psychoanalyst who has transitioned into a climate change warrior. Today she talks about her journey, and how we can understand emergency and fear to build a powerful movement for change. See: https://www.theclimatemobilization.org/about/ http://theclimatepsychologist.com/author/theclimatepsychologist/ Join our weekly email list to hear our latest musings, podcasts and training. Click on…